The Dutch East India Company Coffee Trade
By all accounts, the Dutch were late to the budding trade network that was the Indian Ocean region. They arrived when much of the region was dominated by other European regimes. However, the Dutch managed to carve out a valuable niche for themselves in the coffee trade. This was important because the Dutch had also been in relatively crippling debt due to attempts to secure Belgium’s place in the Dutch kingdom during the 18th century. The coffee trade, particularly in Java, allowed the Dutch to become completely self-reliant financially by 1876. This fiscal independence, coupled with the devotion of the Dutch colonials to creating the sophisticated Cultivation System, demonstrates the profound and integral effect the Asian coffee trade had on the Dutch state.
The Dutch East India Company (also known as the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) was officially established in 1602, and notably larger than its English counterpart. Like most European enterprises in southeast Asia at the time, the VOC was established for the purpose of commerce. But the Dutch had an additional goal in mind. They believed that the trading network would fund their ability to assert independence against the Iberians, the longtime enemy of the Dutch. The Dutch also spent a considerable amount of time carving out a presence for themselves in the intra-Asian trade. They claimed monopoly rights in the Moluccas, which allowed them to become major controllers in the intra-Asian spice trade by the early 1620s. Yet both of these major initiatives would not match the veracity that the VOC stormed into the lucrative Asian coffee trade with.
The Dutch found their presence at the port of Mocha, located in Yemen....
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... European markets, the Dutch began to pull back from production efforts in Java. But despite the settling of the once-pulsating market, it cannot be debated that the commodity of coffee had a profound effect on the Dutch economy. The ability of the VOC to recognize the value of coffee during their work at the port of Mocha allowed them to envision the potential for the small but fertile island of Java. Through strategic relations with local politics, and the willingness to cede production control to local officials, the Dutch were able to carve out a Cultivation System far different from any of those employed by the competing English or Portuguese. This Cultivation System would become the engine for both the Dutch overseas and Javanese local economies, and despite its eventual failure, would be responsible for alleviating debt in both areas during the 19th century.
In the early 19th century, the British East India Company established more trade warehouses and thoroughfares in the Indian subcontinent. This occupation of Indian lands was welcomed by some groups and fiercely opposed by others. While met by more opposition, the British Empire expanded into the other Indian Ocean territories up to the end of the century. Because the trans-Atlantic slave trade was profitable for African elites and brought many valuable goods to West Africa, when it was effectively shut down after 1808 by British patrols, people along this coast were eager to keep the European trade lines alive. The imposition of this “legitimate trade” (any non-slave trade) saw a huge rise in African exports of gold and palm oil.
In the early years of the British Colonies, business and trade were very important because they were major factors of growth. Therefore, there had to be little barriers to trade in the newly founded colonies, and the...
Bergad, Laird. "The Coffee Boom,1885-1897," from Bergad, Coffee and Agrarian Capitalism in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1883) 145-203.
In times of the golden age the VOC (United East Indian Company) the Dutch were well known by their trade. They had ships and trading posts all over Asia and Africa. Still they were looking for shortcuts to sail much faster to their home harbours. The shorter they have to sail with their load the more profit they could make. To find new and faster ways to sail to the east would be great so they started to explore the see’s to find these shortcuts and make new routes to sail for trade.
The larger serving size of Great Cups of Coffee is perhaps the most apparent gage that will improve appeal for the company’s customers. Receiving extra of a proportionately quality product for a comparable price obviously works as an enticement for customers to prefer Great Cups more than the opposition. While customers identify with a better quality and superior taste with fresher coffee, Great Cups supports its effective model of serving coffee that has been roasted no more 72 hours ago and that is blended and ground right at the store. Great Cups also provides as an unintended marketing method community bulletin boards and assists with book club gatherings as well as
The Indian Ocean arena arguable is one of the largest trading networks that had existed in pre-modern history. The changes that occurred in the region from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred are ones that considerable shaped and changed how the world. With previously connected trade routes connecting large portions of this area through land it was only a matter of time before the sea would lead to the expansion of trade throughout the Indian Ocean arena. With Europeans wanting spices and textiles, the effectiveness to bring these goods back to Europe was going to have to change. Europeans needed a way to control the Indian Ocean and the port cities that were located on the sea. As this paper will reveal, control of costal colonies and the network of allies that Europeans will create are two important factors that lead to European control of the Indian Ocean arena.
Curiosity, coupled with the desire for economic accomplishments, attracted settlers searching for wealth in the New World. With the discovery of gold and silver in Spain, for instance, young, white males immigrated to the New World eager for prosperity around 1600-1650. Ironically, the same gold and silver which attracted immigrants for wealth, also led to inflation in Spain which ultimately weakened the Spanish nation. Noticing the deteriorating hold Spain had upon on the New World, England emerged from a once passive position of “privateers,” to actual colonization. The search for economic superiority continued, yet with at first, failed attempts – Roanoke Island, for instance. However, with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, and the succes...
Coffee is a growing part of people’s daily lives. Just before the 9-5 weekdays, and even during the 9-5, it is common for the working class to drink a cup of coffee. To support this accustomed part of our culture, it involves a complex supply chain that allows those coffee beans to turn into a cup that can be consumed. This paper is structured on how Starbucks, the top coffee supplier in the world, can supply its stores, from raw materials to manufacturing, right to the start of someone’s day.
One facet of this unique system involved the numerous economic differences between England and the colonies. The English government subscribed to the economic theory of mercantilism, which demanded that the individual subordinate his economic activity to the interests of the state (Text, 49). In order to promote mercantilism in all her colonies, Great Britain passed the Navigation Acts in 1651, which controlled the output of British holdings by subsidizing. Under the Navigation Acts, each holding was assigned a product, and the Crown dictated the quantity to be produced. The West Indies, for example, were assigned sugar production and any other colony exporting sugar would face stiff penalties (Text, 50). This was done in order to ensure the economic prosperity of King Charles II, but it also served to restrict economic freedom. The geographical layout of the American colonies made mercantilism impractical there. The cit...
Analyzing the Dutch’s colonization strategy furthers my argument of their success in colonizing the New World. “There then is no place in the world better situated, New Netherlands, where we have all things together, such as provisions, ship-timber, plank knees” (Adriaen van der Donck). The Dutch were the most successful European country to colonize the New World. Dutch colonizer had a goal, focused on it and executed
The foundation for new imperialism rested on the ideas and products of the enlightenment. Advancements in technology, medicine and cartography led to the success of new imperialism (Genova, 2/15). For example, European voyages would have been for naught, if it were not for the enlightenment discover...
Dutch elites were then launched into a time of economic abundance, as they became landowners at the expense of the Indonesian people’s
Introduction: The motivation for settlers to travel to the Americas was not the intranational and international rivalries revolving around choice of religion and all-around “we’re better than you” mentality, but instead the goal for each to increase their own personal wealth. The colonists were part of the Virginia Company, which was divided into two smaller companies: London Company and Plymouth Company. The founding of Virginia marked the beginning of a second round of colonization attempts from England, as the first round of attempts in the 1570s and 1580s failed miserably. Rather than grant conquistadors the permission to claim land for them, as well as give them large sums of money for funding, the English used jointstock companies to lead settlers to the New World with the hope of profiting from this arrangement.
The Portuguese went far and long to trade with the Mughal Empire until they set up a base in 1510. Soon they conquered Indonesia and set up trade with China. They couldn't colonize the place, but they stopped the muslims from trading.
Besides the high demand and cost for gasoline these days, coffee is considered the second most traded commodity on worldwide markets next to oil. "Coffee is grown in more than 50 countries in a band around the equator and provides a living for more than 20 million farmers. Altogether, up to 100 million people worldwide are involved in the growing, processing, trading and retailing of the product" (Spilling the Beans , ). In 2001, coffee farmers and plantations produced over 15 billion pounds of coffee while the world market only bought 13 billion pounds. The overproduction in the coffee industry is not a usual thing and is one of the major reasons why prices vary throughout the industry.